Monday, October 16, 2017

Imagine a morning by the fields of lavender. Muted colors of purple as the first rays of sun light up the misty air.

Inspired by these colors I put together a selection of vintage beads. Some in old English cut, some French Prosser technique. An array of purple violet colors in opaque, transparent and some covered with shiny coating.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

This handmade rhinestone headpiece is for making a statement! Sparkly crystal rhinestones are all set one by one into settings and vintage glass pearls wired carefully onto the metal filigrees. Something truly feminine and floral to adorn yourself in special occasions like wedding, birthday or graduation! Take a look of the progress in photos:

First step was to set all the rhinestones into settings. Then
attaching set rhinestones and vintage glass pearls onto the filigrees.

I used memorywire for the base - it holds the round shape and is
lightweight. After making the base I covered it with florist tape.

The headpiece base is finished with supportive filigree band
and signature. All I need to do now is to attach all the
pretty pieces to the supportive filigree band.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

I got those black beads from treasure hunting in New York. What makes these round beads special is that they are antique hollow glass beads. Glass hollow beads were used before plastic was invented and it could offer the vast array of adorning materials to the garment industry. Due to light weight it was possible to sew lots of hollow glass beads on beautiful dresses and jackets and purses etc.

I matched the hollow glass beads with square shaped French jet nailhead beads and new seed beads (I really need to get some antique black seed beads!). In the black brooch dangles I used vintage black beads (I got from France) that are not hollow because hollow ones are fragile and need to be tucked between bigger beads for safety. These dangle earrings and tassel brooch can be either worn separately or as a set.